【Cloud Goods Sharing】The Entrepreneur's Essential Guide: Three Strategies for Expanding Business and Achieving Growth

The path to entrepreneurship is fraught with challenges, and once a business reaches a certain stage of growth, how to achieve further expansion and growth becomes a major challenge for many entrepreneurs. The pandemic in 2020 has made businesses acutely aware that the ability to quickly adapt to new challenges, maintain agility, and remain resilient is crucial for survival and development. Based on a survey of over 500 entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific and Japan regions conducted by Frost & Sullivan, this article shares three effective strategies for expanding business and achieving growth, helping entrepreneurs prepare for future development.

1. Unify Systems and Achieve Process Automation

As a business grows, growth mechanisms such as adding new product lines, establishing new subsidiaries, and expanding into new markets increase operational complexity. Without a unified system, businesses will struggle to manage this complexity. Many startups, in an effort to save costs in the early stages, haphazardly add systems and applications, but this approach often results in applications that cannot work together, increasing operational costs and customer acquisition costs.

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a centralised database that supports all critical functions of business operations, from finance, supply chain, and inventory to sales and marketing. For example, Singapore-based startup DocDoc successfully reduced financial complexity, managed risks, saved time, and alleviated audit pressure by adopting a cloud-based ERP system. Companies should first identify areas where time is wasted or processes are inefficient, start automating simple manual tasks (such as invoicing, purchase order processing, and monthly reporting), and ensure that automated processes integrate with existing systems to accelerate operational speed.

2. Enhancing Visibility and Information Accessibility

As organisational structures become increasingly complex, multiple systems can make information access challenging. Sales representatives, customer service agents, and marketing teams all require timely and accurate data to maximise their value. According to a Frost & Sullivan survey, unsuccessful businesses attribute their failure primarily to difficulties in attracting customers, while supply chain visibility is a critical area for sales-oriented companies. Businesses should ensure easy access to supply chain and inventory information, as well as other data required for swift decision-making.

Take the example of Mexican casual dining chain Guzman y Gomez, whose founder Stephen Marks achieved exponential business growth by implementing a cloud-based ERP platform that integrated multiple business systems and millions of transactions into a single platform. Entrepreneurs should consider using a cloud-based, centralised ERP system to manage their businesses, prioritising areas where accessibility and accuracy are most critical to support rapid business growth.

3. Create an attractive omnichannel customer experience

Attracting and retaining customers is critical to business success. Among Asia-Pacific and Japanese business owners surveyed by Frost & Sullivan, more than half (56%) said they measure business success by customer satisfaction. However, the way customers interact has changed, especially in 2020, when many retailers were forced to close their physical stores. Therefore, it has become essential to reshape the customer experience through flexible omnichannel solutions, guiding people to use all important channels (including online, in-store, social media, and third-party platforms) to drive sales.

Indian agricultural startup Farmpal Techlogi analysed data to identify customer purchasing habits and trends, thereby increasing sales and profit margins. Entrepreneurs can deploy appropriate technologies to capture customer data, including sales and order management, to create personalised experiences that meet customers' unique needs. Additionally, focusing on key metrics such as customer satisfaction, customer profitability, and customer lifetime value can help optimise omnichannel strategies and enhance customer experience.

No entrepreneur can predict the future, but by establishing the right foundation and processes, businesses can be prepared to scale up or down as needed. First, analyse existing financial reporting, supply chain management, and customer management processes to identify areas for incremental improvement; then assess the applicability and interoperability of tools; finally, ensure workflows align with IT systems to make informed decisions, enabling the business to operate like a lean, agile, and rapidly growing machine. We hope these three strategies provide valuable insights for entrepreneurs, helping businesses reach new heights and achieve sustained growth.